Zelenskyy: "Only US can stop Putin" video

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the Trump administration to increase pressure on Russia to end its full-scale invasion and suggested that Congress might need to step in to secure postwar guarantees for Ukraine’s security.

In an interview with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Zelenskyy stressed that only the United States possesses the political and financial leverage to halt the war.

“Be honest, today only Ukraine [is] defending Europe,” Zelenskyy said at the POLITICO Pub during the summit. “Today, only Europe gives money to Ukraine and helps Ukraine. Today, only [the] United States can stop Putin.”

Speaking just days ahead of the war’s fourth anniversary, Zelenskyy criticised the U.S. for signalling that Ukraine should make concessions in the Donbas region while holding the Kremlin to no comparable demands.

“What I see, they give more signals that Ukraine has to make compromises and not Russia,” he said. “This is not [the] right position.”

He also suggested that Congress would need to backstop security guarantees for Ukraine, either by approving more funding for the postwar military or by ratifying a formal treaty. “Security guarantees will work only after Congress will vote,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy pushed back against President Donald Trump’s call for Kyiv and Moscow to finalize a peace settlement by summer, arguing that the Kremlin has been using negotiations to normalize its ties with the U.S. and ease sanctions.

“Until there is enough pressure,” he said, “they play.”

According to Zelenskyy, Russian President Vladimir Putin aims to occupy eastern Ukraine, including parts of Donetsk and Luhansk, where Moscow has achieved the most progress militarily.

U.S.-led peace talks, headed by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump adviser Jared Kushner, are scheduled to resume next week in Geneva. They have stalled, however, as Ukraine resists American pressure to cede territory—some of which remains under Russian control—and due to the lack of concrete postwar security guarantees.

Zelenskyy praised NATO’s initiative to supply Ukraine with more U.S.-made weapons but said it had not altered Putin’s view that Europe is weak. “Putin really doesn’t respect Europe,” he said, noting that the Russian leader’s attempts to divide the continent have failed.

Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have left millions without heat and electricity in freezing temperatures, and more than a million people have been killed or wounded on both sides. Despite the devastation, Zelenskyy expressed confidence that Ukraine would outlast Russia.

“I’m younger than Putin — this is important,” Zelenskyy said. “He doesn’t have too much time.”

By Tamilla Hasanova